TOP NEWS
* Western Digital Corp. is planning to invest about ?500 billion in a memory chip joint venture with Toshiba Corp. for the next three years, The Nikkei reports. The two parties are trying to recover their joint operations after a six-month legal battle to catch up with competitors. Meanwhile, Toshiba expects to complete the sale of its memory chip business by June at the latest, if not by its agreed deadline at the end of March, Reuters reports.
* SoftBank Group Corp. is planning to raise about US$5 billion worth of loans through its U.K.-based tech company ARM Holdings Plc, banking sources told Reuters. Goldman Sachs is reportedly advising on the potential dividend recapitalization loan, which has been presented to a group of big institutional fund investors over the past month.
JAPAN
* Fujitsu Ltd. announced that it has set up a joint venture with major Chinese electrics company Shanghai INESA Auto Electronics System Co. Ltd. to promote smart manufacturing. The new entity is 51% funded by Shanghai INESA, with Fujitsu providing the remaining 49%. With the move, Fujitsu seeks to focus its efforts on offering systems in the Chinese market.
* Panasonic Corp. is looking to divest its main security camera plant to focus on developing advanced facial recognition software in its security camera business, The Nikkei reports. The move is a part of its efforts to cut costs, and shift from hardware to software. The first-round bidding is expected to be closed in early April.
* J1 League, the top professional football association in Japan, will launch an eSports football tournament. The winner of the tournament will be able to participate in the preliminary FIFA eWorld Cup 2018.
SOUTH KOREA
* South Korean police are planning to summon KT Corp. CEO Hwang Chang-gyu for alleged bribery of politicians at the Science Ministry, Newsis reports. The police searched KT headquarters and branches in January.
* KT's satellite broadcasting unit KT Skylife Co. Ltd. has decided to appoint KBS Broadcasting General Manager Kim young-guk as its CEO, Yonhap News Agency reports. Kim previously managed the content business of KT Skylife before serving as the general manager of KBS from 2014. Kim will be officially appointed on March 27.
* The Financial Supervisory Service will start monitoring cryptocurrency market transactions to improve transparency, ZDNet Korea reports. The authority mandated the use of identified bank accounts when trading cryptocurrencies through local exchanges this January. Monitoring on new transaction platforms such as mobile payment will be reviewed as well.
CHINA
* i-Cable Communications Ltd.'s Cable TV and 21st Century Fox Inc.'s Fox Networks Group Asia entered into an agreement to bring 14 channels to Hong Kong viewers, including Fox Sports channels, Star Chinese Movies (US), and Fox Movies channels.
* Live streaming platform Huajiao Live is eyeing an IPO in Hong Kong toward the end of the year, Sina reports, quoting sources. Backed by Qihoo 360 Technology Co. Ltd., the streaming app has finished two rounds of funding totaling 400 million Chinese yuan since its launch in June 2015.
* Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.-owned Youku is suing Beijing ByteDance Technology Co. Ltd.'s Toutiao and video platform Yuncheng Sunshine media for distributing the film "Wolf Warriors 2," for which Youku has exclusive online distribution rights, TechNode reports.
* Miao Wei, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said China has started research on 6G networks to support the development of the Internet of Things, China Central Television reports.
* China shipped 18.12 million mobile phones domestically in February, dropping 38.7% from the comparable period, according to data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. There were 75 new models introduced to the market in the month, representing a 120.6% year-over-year growth.
INDIA
* Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime Video service is looking to add more regional content in India, Reuters reports, citing two company executives.
* Xiaomi Inc. is planning to launch at least six smartphones in India this year, acquire stakes in software and internet startups over the next 12 months, and increase the pace of its investments over the next few years as part of its strategy to invest US$1 billion in Indian businesses, Mint reports, citing Manu Kumar Jain, Xiaomi's global vice-president and India head.
* India's Bombay high court ordered the liquidation of sports broadcaster Nimbus Communications Ltd. over a six-year-old lawsuit by Union Bank of India. The bank is asking to recover its short-term loans and guarantees that were given in 2011 after Nimbus bagged cricket broadcast rights for seven years for 20 billion rupees, Mint reports.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
* Southeast Asian ride-hailing platform GrabTaxi Holdings Pte. Ltd. introduced a bike and scooter rental and payment marketplace platform in Singapore. The platform consolidates several bike-sharing providers such as oBike, GBikes, Anywheel, and Popscoot in a single app.
* Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. officially launched its flagship brand, Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus, in Indonesia, Kompas reports. The Samsung Group unit will start selling its new devices nationwide on March 16.
* Tencent Holdings Ltd.-owned WeChat obtained the license to operate as a third-party payment services provider in Malaysia, Antara News reports. The Chinese instant messaging provider is also in the process of obtaining the same license from several other countries to expand its e-payment business.
* Thai telco Advanced Info Service Public Co. Ltd. and oil refiner Bangchak Corp. Public Co. Ltd. have replaced PTT Public Co. Ltd. and the Government Lottery Office in the bid to help the country pay for the right to publicly broadcast the 2018 World Cup, Thairath reports. These companies, along with five others, will have to contribute 200 million baht each.
* Thai telco Total Access Communication Public Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Norway's Telenor ASA, said it lost about 1 million customers last year, Krungthep Turakij reports. The company attributes this high churn rate to the loss of confidence in its brand because its spectrum concession with TOT Public Co. Ltd. is ending this November, and a new deal is stalled.
AUSTRALIA
* SpeedCast International Ltd. launched Speedcast Atlas, a global connectivity service that offers continued digitalization and automation of worksites and processes.
FEATURED NEWS
Washington Watch: As lawmakers seek net neutrality solution, cable group CEO says time to move on: Although a cable industry CEO recently compared the battle over net neutrality to the futility of trench warfare, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said she still sees the possibility of a legislative solution.
Conference Chatter: Upfront and Personal: Arts network Ovation considers selling less ad inventory: The arts cable network typically sells about 70% of inventory during the upfront, but various market dynamics has Ovation Executive Vice President of Network Strategy Liz Janneman reducing that level during negotiations for the 2018-19 TV season.
Data Dispatch: Disney battles Disney at the box office: Disney will debut "A Wrinkle in Time" on March 9, and its biggest competition over the weekend will be fellow Disney film "Black Panther."
FEATURED RESEARCH
Consumer Insights: 2018 Germany survey summary report: Tablets are for more than watching video: A recent consumer survey shows that tablet owners in Germany are less likely to use the device for watching online video than other entertainment or e-commerce activities.
Multichannel Trends: 2017 US multichannel declines reach nearly 3.6 million: U.S. multichannel services lost an estimated 568,000 residential and commercial video subscriptions in the fourth quarter and nearly 3.6 million for the full year, dropping the total 3.7% to fewer than 94 million subscriptions.
Nozomi Ibayashi, Nicole Shiwon Kim, Emily Lai, Wil Hathaway and Kevin Osmond contributed to this report. The Daily Dose has an editorial deadline of 7 a.m. Hong Kong time. Some external links may require a subscription.
